On the 8th February 2014 The Lodge of Research CC, aka 200, will be celebrating its centenary. The meeting will be at the Masonic Hall in Molesworth Street, Dublin. They are planning a full day of talks and a celebratory dinner in the evening. While many may have visited the Grand Lodge of Scotland in Edinburgh fewer have made the journey to the home of freemasonry in Ireland; the Masonic Hall in Molesworth Street Dublin.
While the building might appear modest from the outside, once in and past the janitor there is the library, museum and various lodge rooms to be visited. For those who wish to do some reaserch the librarian is always willing to assist. Across the road is Buswells Hotel, an admirable hostelry at which to refresh oneself.
The members of the Lodge of Research 200 come from both parts of Ireland and for my money nothing is more pleasureable than an evening spent in their company discovering how little one knows of the breadth and variety of freemasonry in these Isles.
Be there or be unsquare (to misquote the saying ‘be there or be square’). I shall be!
Grand Lodge of Ireland
Molesworth St, Dublin
The Grand Lodge of Ireland is the second oldest in the world and the first evidence for its existence comes from the Dublin Weekly Journal of June 26th 1725. It rented various halls and rooms above pubs and finally at the Royal Irish Academy in Dawson Street, before it began work on the building at Molesworth Street. The location was originally the site of the townhouse of its first Grand Master, the Earl of Rosse, which he donated and paid for half of the £10,000 pounds it cost to build it Designed by architect Edward Holmes of Birmingham who was successfully selected following a competition. Apparently there were numerous changes to the original exterior plan which the Earl of Rosse had rejected as being over-elaborate and ornate.
